


No More Heroes

by nikkiRA



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, i never said i was above fanfic cliches, one of those nico shows up at jasons place bc they're besties but then they make out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 02:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4043116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikkiRA/pseuds/nikkiRA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Jason wakes up to find Nico di Angelo asleep on his couch, he almost kills him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No More Heroes

The first time Jason wakes up to find Nico di Angelo asleep on his couch, he almost kills him.

Literally.

The son of Hades’ face is buried in a pillow and there’s a blanket covering his body, so Jason doesn’t recognize him. Jason grabs his sword and creeps over to the figure on his couch, holding his sword to the stranger’s throat and ripping the blankets off of him.

Only to find a skinny kid underneath, wearing an oversized jacket, his shoes still on his feet.

“Fucking _hell,_ Nico,” he shouts. Nico blearily lifts his head and sees Jason Grace, in his Captain America pyjamas, holding a sword.

“Good morning,” he says mildly. Jason glares.

“I was about to stab you.”

“Why?”

“There was a stranger on my couch!”

Nico sits up. “So either you were going to have to explain to a mortal why your scary sword was passing right through them, or a tired monster decided to take a nap before skewering you.”

Jason scowls. “Whatever. What are you doing here? Last anyone heard you were in Scotland.”

Nico grimaces. “Yeah. Scottish food does not agree with me. Figured it was time to come home for a while. Only issue is that I don’t have a technical home, so… here I am.”

“You could have _knocked,_ you know.”

“It was two in the morning.”

Jason sighs and takes a look at the boy on his couch. Boy doesn’t really cut it, anymore. Six years after they defeated Gaia and Nico has grown. When he stands up to stretch Jason can see that he has gone through one last growth spurt since he saw him last, about two years ago, and he isn’t exactly happy when he sees that now Nico is taller than him. He’s still thin, but when he shrugs off his coat Jason can see his significantly more muscular arm. But perhaps most surprising of all is the _beard._

“You’re staring at me.”

“It’s been a while. I haven’t seen you. You look… different.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “I haven’t had time to shave, Grace. I’ve been busy.”

“My little Nico is all grown up,” he says, condescendingly. Nico flips him off.

Jason follows him into the kitchen, where Nico begins rummaging through his fridge.

“Go ahead, make yourself at home.”

“Thanks,” Nico says drily. When he straightens up Jason holds his arms out.

Nico raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“Oh come on! It’s been two years!”

“What is it with you and hugging?”

Jason keeps staring at him, arms outstretched. Nico lets out a sigh that is much more beleaguered than is really necessary for the situation and huffs. “Fine,” he says, sounding very _not_ fine. Jason sweeps him into a hug; Nico pats his back awkwardly until Jason lets him go.

Once he turned 18, Nico had started… Jason supposed the word would be _working,_ for his father, travelling all over. He kept in touch with Hazel, who in turn passed on the news to everyone else. Jason hadn’t seen him since he left.

Nico reopens the fridge and grabs a bottle of water, drinking half of it immediately.

“Where’s Piper?” He asks, sitting down at the kitchen table. Jason looks down and doesn’t answer.

“Oh,” Nico says, after a minute of uncomfortable silence. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry. It was about six months ago. You couldn’t have known.”

He didn’t mean to sound so bitter. Really.

Nico coughs and finishes off the water. “If you… I mean, if you need to, or, or want to –”

Jason laughs. “Don’t hurt yourself, di Angelo. I get what you’re trying to say. Thanks.”

Nico blushes. “Yeah. Sure.”

“You know, it’s been so long, I forgot how spectacular your people skills were,” Jason says, a large grin on his face.

Nico smiles and pretends he isn’t. “Fuck off, Grace.”

Laughing, Jason sits down across from him. “So what’s your plan? Are you… back?”

Nico shakes his head. “Not really. But I told my father to cool it. I’m not an errand boy.”

Jason balks. “You told the Lord of the Underworld to ‘cool it’?” He asks, impressed.

Nico just shrugs. “If he killed me I’d be in the Underworld permanently. He’d never get a break. At least when I’m alive I leave him alone occasionally.”

Jason does not honestly know if he is joking or not.

“Well, all right. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. Does Hazel know you’re back?”

“Not yet. I was going to stay there, but the last time I showed up without warning them I found out,” he closes his eyes, as if the memory was too much to bear, “Frank likes to roam around naked.”

“That, my friend, is why you _knock.”_ Jason says. “See, you could have gotten into the exact same situation with me. How did you know I don’t walk around naked, too?”

Nico blushes. “Because I know how much you love those fucking pyjamas.”

“Captain America is a hero.”

“Captain America didn’t take down the primordial fucking Greek deity, if I recall. That was us.”

“He was… busy.”

Jason is not often treated to the sight of a real, genuine Nico di Angelo smile, so whenever he gets to see it he always tries to remember what had happened to cause it.

“You’re a goddamn nerd, Grace. We’re much cooler superheroes than Captain America.”

“If you want to stay with me, di Angelo, you’ll have to watch your mouth.”

Nico rolls his eyes.

“Anyway, I have class. I’ll bring home food, if you’ll still be here?” Nico nods. “Chinese?” Jason asks.

“I will eat anything as long as it isn’t Scottish,” Nico grimaces.

“Cool. There’s, um.” He realizes there’s not really all that much to do in his apartment. “Television?”

One side of Nico’s mouth curls up. “I’m going to visit Hazel. The, uh. Knocking way. I’ll be back for dinner.”

Jason goes to get dressed, in a significantly better mood than when he had woken up.

When he gets home Nico is sitting on the couch, watching a special on aliens, a can of beer beside him and a bowl of ice cream in his lap.

“You’re underage.”

Nico scowls. “I am old enough to be your goddamn grandfather, Grace, and don’t you ever forget it.”

Jason smiles. “C’mere and help me with this.” Nico gets up and takes the bag from Jason, who can’t help but notice the way the muscles of his arm flex as he lifts the bag onto the counter.

They eat on the couch, watching the specialists try to explain the extra-terrestrial phenomenon and shouting out which god and/or famous demi-god had actually done it. Jason drops rice down his shirt and then flings some more at Nico when he laughs.

“How was Hazel?”

“Frank was mercifully clothed.” Jason snorts. “Hazel, uh.” Nico suddenly seems nervous. “She filled me in on how everyone’s been and… and everything that’s happened.” Nico is looking at Jason out of the corner of his eye and Jason knows that Hazel had told him the whole sordid story of what had happened between him and Piper. Jason keeps his eyes firmly on the television.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” Nico says, very quietly. “I know I’ve been pretty… distant, the past few years. If I had known…”

If he had known that Jason hadn’t left his room for three days, would he have come back? If he had known that he had sent away Leo, Percy, Annabeth, even Reyna, _everyone,_ when they came to try to talk to him, would he have come?

Would he have sent Nico away, too?

“You’ve been so distant,” Piper had said, tears in her eyes, and he knew it was true. “I feel like you don’t see me when you look at me, anymore.”

She was right, of course. He couldn’t fault her for leaving a boyfriend who was preoccupied more often than not. The only issue, still now just as much as it was then, was that Jason didn’t know what the hell he was preoccupied _with._

He plasters a smile on his face that very clearly does not fool Nico. “It’s okay.”

“Jason –”

“More food?” He asks, abruptly, standing up. Nico sighs.

“No. Thanks.”

“How’s school?” Nico asks a few awkward silent minutes later. Jason knows he’s probably just asking to break the silence. Jason had decided he’d spent enough time in New Rome – he wanted to experience life differently. Him and Piper had decided to stay in New York, to go to college together.

Obviously that hadn’t turned out the way that they had planned.

“Fine,” he says. Nico keeps his eyes on him for a few moments before nodding and turning back to the television.

“Ares,” Jason says, a few minutes later, in response to the show, at the exact same time Nico says, “Athena.”

“No way, dude,” Jason says. “That’s not sophisticated enough for Athena. That’s just mindless terror. Athena is way more subtle.”

“You’re going to find yourself subtly blasted to dust if you don’t watch yourself, Grace,” Nico responds with a smirk.

And just like that, the awkwardness lifts.

Jason relaxes, shoulder pushed against Nico, who is picking food out of his teeth. And he feels good. For the first time in a while.

For the first time in six months.

*

The next morning Nico is gone, as if he had never even been there, and Jason is alone again.

* * *

“Oh,” Jason says a few weeks later, when Nico resurfaces on his couch. “Look what the cat dragged in.”

Nico sits up, blinking sleep out of his eyes. “Hazel said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yeah,” Jason says. “To _kill_ you.”

Nico’s mouth forms a silent ‘o.’ “She left that part out.”

“I’m gathering.”

Nico sighs. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left without telling you.”

Jason wants to tell him he shouldn’t have left at all, but he thinks that would probably scare him away. Nico di Angelo, Ghost King, who fearlessly fought both Kronos and Gaea, terrifying son of death, scared of human affection.

“It’s fine. Just… a note, next time, okay?”

“I can probably do that.”

Jason is surprised. He had expected that to be harder. Nico must see this, because he smiles wryly. “Did you expect me to put up a fight?”

“Getting things out of you is normally much more difficult,” Jason admits.

Nico just shrugs. “Figured I can at least attempt to be civilized if I’m going to be using your couch as a bedroom.”

Jason sighs. “All right. I forgive you.” He puts on his best praetor voice. “Just don’t do it again.”

Nico smirks. “Yes, sir.”

Jason firmly ignores the feeling in his lower half that is definitely not arousal, it can’t be arousal, even if Nico is smirking up at him from beneath his fringe.

“Don’t sass me, di Angelo,” he says. Nico snorts.

“Never.”

*

The next morning when he wakes up Nico is in the shower. He tries not to focus on this.

He drags himself out of bed when he hears the shower turn off. He opens up his kitchen cabinets to try and find something to eat for breakfast when he stops suddenly.

“Hey Nico?” He calls. Nico emerges from the bathroom, hair wet.

“What?”

“Did you buy cereal?”

Nico cocks his head, confused. “No.”

Jason beckons him over. When Nico sees the now overstuffed cupboard, he rolls his eyes.

“Demeter,” he says. “She always sends cereal after me. She says I’m too thin.”

“She’s not wrong.”

Nico glares at him before shaking his head. “Sorry.”

“Hey, I just got a lifetime supply of cereal free of charge. I’m not complaining.”

Nico finally takes a look at him. His eyebrows rise so high Jason thinks they might be trying to visit Olympus. “You know you’re an adult, right? Like you can legally vote. You are a high functioning, super powerful demigod _adult.”_

“Your point?”

“Maybe dress like one.”

Jason tugs on his Spider-man pyjamas self-consciously. “They’re just pyjamas. And you’re one to talk! You still dress like a fourteen year old girl.”

Jason had half expected Nico to get angry, but he just laughs. “I never said I was a high functioning adult, though.”

“Yeah, well. I’m not exactly a productive member of society. Not recently.”

Nico shifts uncomfortably. His fingers hover a few inches from Jason’s shoulder, but ultimately they just drop.

“I’m going to buy you adult pyjamas.”

“I won’t wear them.”

Jason doesn’t want to be an adult. Having Juno steal his memories and sending him across America to stop Mother Nature from ending the world had been a walk in the park compared with growing up. Growing up and trying to understand why he was so upset that he had been dumped by a girl he wasn’t even in love with. He loved Piper, of course, and he has no doubt that once the obligatory post-break up awkwardness fades away they will be friends again. But lately growing up has basically involved Jason failing to live up to people's expectations of him, and he was not enjoying it.

“You’re a pain in the ass, Grace.”

Jason forces a smile onto his face. “One to talk.”

Nico rolls his eyes and grabs a box of cereal.

*

That night Jason stays up late, sitting on the couch and watching a movie he hadn’t even planned on watching, but now he was half way through it and like it or not he was invested, now.

“Had you even heard of this movie before tonight?” Nico complains from beside him.

“No. But now I want to know what happens.”

Nico groans. “This is my bedroom, Grace.”

“This was my couch way before it was your bedroom.”

“Whatever,” Nico mutters. He hunkers down, curling up and somehow managing to fit his body on the remaining two cushions. It doesn’t look even remotely comfortable. “Goodnight.”

Jason looks at the curled up body and tries to remember if he’s ever met anyone so infuriatingly stubborn as Nico di Angelo.

Before he can chicken out, Jason grabs Nico’s legs and straightens them so they are resting on his lap. His fingers tighten on Nico’s ankle when he stiffens and tries to pull away.

“You’ll never be able to sleep like that,” he says. “Stop fussing.”

Nico looks like he wants to argue, but eventually he just sighs. Jason can feel him relax, shifting to a more comfortable position, so he lets go of his ankle. Nico never brings pyjamas, he realizes, just sleeps in whatever he’s arrived in. Jason could get him some, he thinks. Hazel would know his size. He could keep them in a drawer so Nico would have something to wear.

(He ignores the fact that the first time Piper had asked if she could leave some things at his place, he had balked, and he hadn’t recovered in time. Piper had turned away, a hurt look on her face. Now he’s planning on buying Nico clothes. It’s easier to ignore the implications of that.)

Jason watches the rest of the movie, acutely aware of Nico’s smallest movements. Once the son of Hades drifts off he relaxes more, spreading out and shifting, legs moving around in Jason’s lap. Eventually Jason stops paying attention to the movie and focuses on Nico’s sleeping form instead.

It’s odd to see him so… vulnerable. Gone is the default scowl that is usually present on his face. He looks younger, happier. There are no lines on his face, from worry or anger or anything. He looks like an almost different person.

Jason turns off the television and tries to figure out how to get up without waking Nico. He slowly lifts his legs off of Jason’s lap and squeezes out from under them. Nico shifts and makes a quiet noise; Jason freezes, but Nico doesn’t wake up.

The next morning when Jason asks Nico if he knows when he’ll be leaving, in a coincidence Jason thought only happened in movies, a giant hellhound appears in his kitchen.

“Guess that answers that,” he mutters. “Isn’t that Percy’s dog?”

Nico shrugs. “Joint custody,” he says. Jason stares at him in awe. Nico must have done a lot of growing up if he’s at a point when he can make jokes like that about Percy.

Nico stands up, petting Mrs. O’Leary behind the ears. He looks at the dog before saying, casually, not looking at Jason, “I don’t know when I’ll be able to be back, or I’d tell you.”

Jason nods. “Will you be back?”

Slowly, Nico nods. Jason smiles.

Nico shoots a small smile at him before disappearing into shadows, leaving Jason alone again.

* * *

The third time Nico di Angelo shows up in his apartment, he does so loudly, with a bang and a crash and a muffled moan and blood stains on the carpet that just won’t come out.

He arrives early in the morning. Jason wakes up to the sound of breaking glass – the lamp, he finds out later. He gets up fast, worry peaking, running out of his bedroom. Nico had made it to the couch, but barely. There is broken glass on the floor that Jason cuts his feet on, but he doesn’t even notice in his attempt to get to the bleeding boy on the couch.

“Nico?”

He is curled on the couch, pale as all hell and mumbling.

“Nico?”

“Jason…”

“What the hell happened?”

Nico tries to move and winces. “Would you believe – not even a monster.” He laughs weakly. “I got mugged. Fucking mugged. How lame is that?”

Jason lifts Nico’s shirt up gently and gasps when he sees the wound. Nico had been stabbed in the stomach, a long slash that was still bleeding freely. Jason swears.

“If I die because of a mortal knife wound I am going to haunt those teenagers for the rest of their lives.”

“You’re not going to die, idiot. I have nectar and ambrosia. Hang on.”

Nico’s breathing is laboured. He eats a bit, which restores some colour to his face.

“Take off your shirt,” Jason orders. Nico tries to lift his arms and hisses.

“I can’t,” he mutters. Jason curses again and carefully lifts the shirt over Nico’s head, apologizing when Nico hisses in pain.

“Can you talk? What happened?”

Nico shudders. “Got cornered. Bunch of teenagers. Gods, I hate teenagers.” Jason smiles softly as he runs to grabs something to clean the wound. He decides not to mention that Nico was a teenager less than four months ago. “Typical gang. Said they wanted my wallet. I said I got it at Target.” Jason makes an angry noise. “I thought they were monsters. I kept waiting for them to show their true form. Finally I got annoyed and drew my sword. Should have scared the shit out of them, but you know mortal teenagers. Idiots aren’t afraid of anything, especially New Yorkers. I didn’t want to just stab them because my sword can hurt mortals, too, so I told them to stop hiding behind ugly mortal faces and show their ugly monster faces. They looked at me like I was crazy. Then one of them stabbed me. Like I’m in the fucking _Outsiders_.”

“You’ve seen the _Outsiders?”_ Jason asks, trying to keep Nico’s mind off the pain.

“Persephone makes me do movie nights with her.”

That, Jason thinks, is one of the weirdest things he’s ever heard.

“We should take you to the hospital.”

Nico shakes his head. “No.”

“It’s a mortal wound –”

Nico is vehement. “Do you know how complicated it is doing mortal things when you don’t have an address? Or a birth certificate? Or a technical date of birth? You try telling people you were born eighty years ago and see how well they take it.”

Jason sighs. “Fine. No hospital. At least lie down in my bed. Come on.” Grunting, Nico stands, leaning heavily on Jason. Each step seems to take more and more out of him, and any colour that the ambrosia had returned to his face drains out of it again.

“You shadow travelled here, didn’t you?”

“Well I didn’t take the subway.”

“That wasn’t very smart.”

“What exactly…” Nico takes a deep, shaky breath, “would you have had me do?”

Jason lets out an exasperated breath. “You have a point. But it definitely didn’t help.”

Nico moans as they walk to Jason’s bedroom. Jason gently lowers him to the bed. Nico’s breathing is shallow, and his eyes are fluttered closed. Jason shakes him softly. “Nico.” No answer. “Fuck.” Nico has passed out. Jason sends up a prayer to Apollo and then gets to work.

*

When Jason hears Nico call his name he almost trips over his feet trying to get to the bedroom.

The first thing Nico says is, “Whose clothes are these?”

Jason blushes. “Yours.”

Nico looks down at himself. “These are not mine.”

“They are. I bought them for you.”

Nico studies him. “You bought me clothes.”

“Well, yeah. I figured you wouldn’t want to keep sleeping in jeans when you’re here. Came in handy, though. Your other clothes are soaked in blood.”

Nico leans back, surprised. “You bought me clothes before today?”

Jason is somehow able to blush even more. “Uh. Yeah.”

Nico narrows his eyes. “My size?”

“I asked your sister.”

Nico takes a breath. “Okay. Thank you. I guess.”

“No problem.”

Nico voices the awkward implication that is hanging between them. “So then… you changed my clothes.”

Jason swallows. “Technically.”

Nico licks his lips. “Technically,” he repeats. Jason rubs the back of his neck, awkwardly looking around the room.

“Anyway.  Are you – how are you feeling?”

“Sort of like I just got stabbed.”

“How strange.”

Nico lifts his shirt. “Nice bandaging job,” he mutters. Jason straightens up. Now, he admonishes himself, is not the time to be acting like a blushing bride.

“Here. I need to check it. Let me see.” Nico leans back, giving Jason more access. He winces as Jason undoes the bandages.

“I can’t believe I got stabbed by a mortal. A teenage mortal. I used to have a reputation. I used to be feared.”

“Have you always been this dramatic?”

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

Jason’s fingers are gentle; Nico’s skin is cold. Nico reaches out and grabs a hold of Jason’s hand, gripping the fingers so tightly Jason is afraid he’s going to break them.

“Am I hurting you?”

“No, I just wanted to hold your hand.”

“Would it kill you to give me a straight answer?”

“There’s a gay joke in there somewhere,” Nico says through clenched teeth. Jason smiles.

“I am going to need my hand, Nico.”

Nico grimaces and lets go of Jason’s hand, hissing as the bandage comes off. Jason, (who had googled ‘how to treat a stab wound’) breathes in deeply. “You’re all right. It’s not infected.”

“Thank you, Nurse Grace.”

Jason smiles softly. “I used a wiki how on stab wounds.”

Nico looks at him funny. “What the fuck is a wiki how?”

Jason laughs. “It’s an internet thing.”

“I don’t trust the internet.”

“Whatever, grandpa. Let me wrap you up again.”

With a few more rounds of hissing and wincing Nico is all bandaged again.

“Help me up.”

“Why?”

“I’m hungry.”

“You can eat in my bed.”

Nico sighs. “Jason. No offence. But you have the bedroom of an ex-marine.”

“What does that mean?”

“There’s nothing in here. It’s absolutely spotless. Do you make your bed?”

“Well –”

“What kind of 21 year old makes their own bed? It’s too… _quiet_ in here.”

The truth is he likes order – it helps him clear his head, especially after Piper left. You have to get out of bed to make it. It kept him moving.

“Fine. But you’re sleeping here again, tonight.”

“There are easier ways to get me into bed, you know.”

Jason sputters. “What happened to you?”

Nico stares. “What does that mean?”

“It’s just… when you left you were still so closed off and secretive. Now you’re making jokes about your sexuality and Percy and you’re _flirting.”_

Nico looks down at the bed. “Sorry.”

“I didn’t say I minded,” Jason tells him. “I like you this way. I mean, I’d like you all ways –”

“And _I’m_ flirting,” Nico mutters.

“I’m just wondering what the hell happened between then and now.”

Nico’s ears are very, very pink. “I met someone,” he says very quietly.

“What?”

Jason’s heart is acting strangely.  You’re supposed to be happy when one of your best friends finds somebody. Especially when said friend has had a long, hard life and had spent about a fourth of it in love with a guy who could never love him back. But for some reason, Jason’s heart just drops.

“Oh,” he says. He’s trying to say congratulations, but his mouth doesn’t seem to be able to remember how to form that particular combination of sounds.

“Well,” Nico says. He still isn’t looking at Jason. “That’s not strictly true. I met a couple somebodies. Separately!” He adds quickly. “Not at the same time! I just… travelling. I’ve met people and I just… I don’t know.”

Jason nods. “I get what you’re saying.” Nico had been alone for a long time, stuck inside his brain, focused on a certain son of Poseidon who Jason definitely wasn’t jealous of. Getting out in the world and meeting people is just what Nico would have needed to accept who he was and get over Percy. Jason is happy about that, truly. Nico deserved that. “I’m happy for you.”

Nico shakes his head. “It was nothing serious, or anything.”

Jason narrows his eyes at him. “None of them were dead, were they?”

“Fucking _hell,_ Jason,” Nico says, but he is smiling, and that strange awkwardness that had momentarily settled over them dissipates. “No, none of them were dead. What is wrong with you?”

Jason laughs. “I was just checking.”

Nico rolls his eyes and tries to stand. Jason grabs him gently, helping him make his way to the couch.

“I, uh. I haven’t told Hazel. I didn’t think you’d want to worry her. I knew you weren’t dying, so I… well. I figured she would have probably hopped on a plane as soon as she heard and I don’t think my father would be pleased.”

“Probably a better idea. I’ll let her know in a year or so.”

Jason grins. “What do you want to eat?”

Nico looks at him and says, deadpan, “Do you have any cereal?”

*

Jason is definitely not happy Nico had been stabbed. But he can’t say he’s not happy that he can’t really leave Jason’s apartment for a few days.

Nico is great at keeping Jason’s mind off the all-consuming loneliness that has seeped into his life. Piper and him rarely spoke, mostly because he still felt guilty at what had happened and how it was his fault. Leo has a hard time balancing his time between school, his girlfriend, and his two best friends who can’t even look each other in the eye. Everyone else is across the country in New Rome, and even though they keep in touch there’s a big difference between weekly Iris Messages and a physical presence beside you, telling you that _West Side Story_ is a classic, thank you, and not to laugh at him “I’m serious Jason, have you ever even seen it?”

“Was this the product of another movie night with your step-mother?”

“Persephone is trying to catch me up on popular culture.”

“And she decided _West Side Story_ was an imperative part?”

Nico glares. “Have you seen it?”

“No.”

Watching an old musical in the style of Romeo and Juliet with Nico di Angelo is probably one of the strangest things he’s ever done, and he was raised by wolves after trying to eat a stapler.

What’s even stranger is that Nico knows all the words.

“You’re singing along.”

“No I’m not.”

“You definitely are.”

“I would get up and storm away if I could move without passing out.”

“How many times have you watched this after Persephone made you?”

Nico blushes. “Not important.”

Jason smirks. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as someone who liked musicals.”

Nico just shrugs, eyes glued to the screen.

Jason finds himself watching Nico more than he watches the film, watching his lips silently form the words. Nico catches him watching him at one point and turns red.

“Stop staring at me.”

But Jason can’t. He’s been having that problem lately, that he can’t stop staring. The problem is that Nico di Angelo is really quite beautiful, in a way that Jason had never before realized. Nico di Angelo has always been beautiful, but the degree of it is astonishing. Jason never really thought men could be beautiful – attractive, handsome, hot, sure, but Nico is the first truly beautiful boy Jason has ever seen. It is hard to take his eyes off him.

“Sorry. Just trying to hear you sing,” he lies quickly. Nico shakes his head, a little smile across his lips.

*

The third night is when Nico starts causing trouble.

“I don’t need your bed, Grace. The couch suits me fine.”

“You’ve been _stabbed,_ Nico.”

“Yeah, like a week ago –”

“Three days –”

“And I’m basically healed. There’s no reason why you should be sleeping on the couch.”

“I’m not letting you sleep on the couch.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Do you have to be so difficult?”

“I prefer the term noble.”

Nico scowls. “I mean it, Jason. I don’t need your bed. I don’t want to get in the way.”

Jason lets out an annoyed sound. “Gods of Olympus, Nico, you’re not in the way. There’s no way I’m letting you sleep on the couch. So either I get the couch or we share the bed –”

“Fine.”

Jason stops. “What?” He had been joking – like Nico would ever let them share a bed.

“If you’re going to insist on being an idiot the least I can do is make sure you’re a comfortable idiot. I know from experience that’s not the most comfortable couch, and I’m smaller than you.”

Jason raises his eyebrows. “Are you calling me fat?”

Nico does not answer, just stares at Jason. Nico’s expression is unreadable and it is making Jason uncomfortable.

“Fine,” Jason says. “If you’re that insistent on getting me into bed with you…”

He does not know what makes him say it. He half expects Nico to scowl and jerk away, or snap at him, but to his surprise he sputters before blushing furiously.

Jason turns off the light and climbs into bed beside Nico. The bed is large enough that they do not even have to come close to touching, which is no doubt part of the reason why Nico offered to share. Jason listens to the other boy breathe beside him for a few minutes before he eventually drifts off to sleep himself.

When he wakes up they are touching. Nico has shifted closer in his sleep, and one of his feet is resting on top of Jason’s leg. He is on his side facing Jason, eyelashes long against his cheek, face peaceful. One of his hands is curled against Jason’s side, and his fingers twitch every so often in the fabric of Jason’s shirt. Jason figures this is probably the closest to cuddling with Nico di Angelo that he will ever get.

It’s at that moment that Jason finally comes to the realization that yes, cuddling with Nico di Angelo is something he would like to do, as well as all the things that come with it.

Well, shit.

*

“I’m going to have to go soon.”

Jason kind of wants to pretend that he hadn’t heard that.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” He asks, as casually as possible, since what he really means is _don’t go._

“I’ve stayed longer than I really should have,” Nico says. “I’ve been feeling well enough to travel for a few days, now.”

“Oh. Well if you’re sure.”

Nico is quiet for a minute, moving food around on his plate. “Yeah. I’ll leave tomorrow.”

Jason nods and tries to hide his disappointment. “Sure.”

That night Nico still goes to sleep in Jason’s bed. It isn’t until Jason climbs in beside him that he realizes.

“Oh. I guess I don’t need to sleep here anymore. Sorry.” He goes to get up but Jason grabs his arm.

“It’s fine. We’re already here. Just go to sleep.”

Nico is still asleep when Jason wakes up to go to class the next day. Jason gives him a look before leaving. Maybe, he thinks, Nico will sleep through the day and he won’t get a chance to leave.

Jason comes home after class to an empty apartment and a note on his bed.

_Jason: I got called on an emergency mission to the Underworld. I wanted to wait until you got home but I couldn’t. Thanks for helping me after I got hurt. Nico._

Jason rips the paper into little pieces.

* * *

The fourth time he wakes up to see Nico on his couch, he tries to smother him.

He throws a pillow at the sleeping figure and then, when Nico springs awake with a yelp, he slams the pillow down on his face. One of Nico’s hands snaps up and punches him in the stomach. When Jason doubles over, Nico sits up and kicks him behind the knees, toppling him to the ground.

“What the _fuck,”_ he hisses through clenched teeth. Jason looks up. Nico’s face is red; he is breathing heavily and his hair is a mess, hanging in front of his eyes, which are burning with fury. Jason feels the oddest desire to sweep his hair out of his face before Nico does exactly that, glaring at him angrily.

“Y’know, maybe one of these days you’ll finally understand that it is not okay for you to just disappear all the goddamn time.” Jason’s voice is just as angry as Nico’s. His eyes glare up at the boy on the couch with the same ferocity.

“What are you talking about? I left a –”

“A note, you left a _motherfucking note_. Is that all I fucking get, is a goddamn _note?_ You had been _stabbed,_ Nico, and I took care of you, and all I got was a note. _”_

“I couldn’t wait for you, Jason! What more do you want?”

Sometimes, Jason thinks the gods sent Nico di Angelo just to make him crazy.

“A goodbye would be nice. A real one. An indication of when you’d be back, if you would be, maybe, so that I didn’t wake up every fucking morning and check my couch, hoping to see your stupid fucking face.”

The anger fades off of Nico’s face, replaced with confusion. He sits back. “I –”

Jason holds up a hand. “Save it Nico. I’m just getting pretty tired of being walked out on.”

Nico’s face softens, the slightest hint of pity crossing his features.

“Jason –”

“It’s fine.”

“You just tried to _murder_ me, I think that’s a pretty good indication that it’s not fine.”

“I wasn’t going to kill you,” Jason says defensively.

“I should hope not. Nico di Angelo, Ghost King, bested by a pillow.”

Jason ducks his head to hide the smile spreading across his face.

“I’m sorry,” Nico says slowly. “I’ll wait next time.”

“Thank you.”

Nico smiles at him. He stays for a few days; they go visit Percy and Annabeth, and Jason and Percy laugh for about ten minutes straight at Nico’s face when he sees Annabeth’s stomach. They go see the new Captain America movie and Nico pretends not to notice that Jason cries.

Three days after he arrives Nico opens his bedroom door at one in the morning and says, very quietly, “I have to go.”

Jason doesn’t look at him. “Okay.”

Nico can clearly sense the anger in his voice because he takes another step into the room. “Jason?”

“I said okay. Bye.”

“I’m doing what you asked, I’m saying good –” He trails off. Jason sits up and looks at him. Nico’s eyes are wide, like he’s finally understanding something. He stares at Jason, his mouth hanging open slightly. “You’re not upset that I didn’t say goodbye.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not upset that I don’t say goodbye. You’re upset that I keep leaving.”

It isn’t until Nico says this that Jason realizes he’s right.

But he’s not going to admit that.

“That’s… no.”

“You’re angry that I keep leaving, it has nothing to do with _how_ I leave, you’re upset that I keep doing it.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, di Angelo,” he says, panic rising in his throat, because with each word that Nico says Jason is realizing that he’s right. He’s lonely and the only one who fixes that is Nico, and every time he leaves it hurts a little more.

“Jason, I can’t stay forever –”

“You can’t just use me when it’s convenient for you!” Jason climbs out of bed, advancing on Nico, eyes bright with anger. “You can’t just crash on my couch and, and…” He keeps coming closer, until he’s right in front of Nico. “You can’t be my friend when you want to and then ignore me after that.”

He doesn’t know how it happens. He doesn’t know who even started it. Later he asks Nico, but Nico doesn’t know, either. The only thing either of them are sure of is that one minute Jason is yelling and the next Nico is pushed up against the wall and they are kissing.

When Jason clues in on what’s happening he tries to jerk away, terrified that he’ll have scared Nico away for good, but to his surprise a hand clamps onto the back of his neck and holds him there.

Okay. This is going better than expected. Nico is kissing him back. Or maybe he’s kissing Nico back. Whichever one it is doesn’t really matter, because they are kissing and Jason is pressed right up against Nico, pushing him into the wall. Nico’s hands are fisted in Jason’s shirt.

“Um,” he says, when they are forced to pull away to deal with the more pressing matter of breathing. “You’re straight.”

“Apparently not,” is all he can think to say, because he had thought he was straight, too.

“Okay,” is all Nico says, kissing him again.

It’s amazing how suddenly things start making sense. All these strange things he had been feeling, the way he had been alienating everyone around him and how he had pushed Piper away from him. Piper, he thinks. This would definitely explain what she had been feeling, the disconnect that had sprung up between them.

He realizes that he had been wondering what it would be like to kiss Nico di Angelo since that day all those years ago when Cupid had outed him. Nico’s lips are soft, his skin is soft, his hands on Jason’s body are soft. Jason wonders how a boy who seems to be made almost entirely of hard edges could be so soft. Jason wants to kiss every inch of him, wants to explore Nico di Angelo’s body, wants to hoist him up against the wall and kiss him until the only thing he can remember is how Nico tastes.

“I do still have to go,” Nico mutters.

“You can’t go anywhere if I don’t stop kissing you.”

Nico smiles. “Where is this even coming from, Grace?” He asks as Jason kisses down his jaw.

“I think,” Jason says, “that I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time.”

Piper had said he’d been distracted. Now he knew what had been distracting him.

“Jason,” he says again. “I really do have to go. My father won’t want to be kept waiting.”

“Your father can –” Jason doesn’t get a chance to say what exactly Nico’s father can do, because Nico – wisely, probably – cuts him off with his mouth.

“I’ll be back,” he says. Jason’s hand has slipped under Nico’s shirt.

“When?”

He’s probably being needy and clingy. He’s probably doing the exact thing that would scare a person like Nico di Angelo away. But Nico is still kissing him.

“Soon,” he says. Jason dips his fingers below the waistband of Nico’s jeans, which elicits a small little moan out of Nico that reverberates through Jason’s entire body. Jason will dream of that sound. Jason will spend the rest of his life trying to make Nico make that noise again.

“Jason –” Nico pulls away. Jason leans his forehead against Nico’s; his legs feel weak and his lips are tingling and he is acutely aware of every part of Nico pushed against him.

“I have to go.”

Jason isn’t sure he can form words, so he just nods. Nico gives him a long look before melting into the shadows.

* * *

The fifth time, Nico shadow travels straight into his bedroom. Jason wakes up when he sits down on the bed, legs crossed beneath him. Jason has to sit on his hands to keep himself from reaching out to touch him.

“Hi,” he says. Nico is looking at his hands.

“Yeah.”

He got a haircut. All Jason can really think about is how it would feel to run his hands through it.

“I like your hair.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Demeter. She tied me to a chair with wheat.”

“I like it.”

Nico reaches up and tugs at it. “It’s too short.”

Jason takes a deep breath and tries to ignore the tangible feeling of awkwardness. “I didn’t know if you were really going to come back.”

Nico also takes a deep breath. It seems to calm him; he stops being so fidgety. “I didn’t either,” he admits. “But I figured… even if you considered it a mistake, I would still like to know.”

“I don’t,” Jason is quick to say. “I don’t think it was a mistake.”

“Oh.” Nico’s tone is unreadable. Jason can’t honestly tell if he’s happy about this or not.

Nico is closed off again, nearly as much as the first time Jason had ever met him. He wants to kiss him again, wants to prove it wasn’t a mistake, wants to kiss him until he trusts him again.

“Nico –”

“I want –”

They both stop. Jason motions for Nico to continue. He hadn’t even really known what he had wanted to say.

“I want to know why you kissed me.”

“Because I wanted to.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re… you.”

“What does that mean?”

Nico sighs. “Do you know the type of guys I had things with? They’re like me. Kind of different. Kind of outcasts. People who don’t really know where they fit. You… me and heroes have bad history. I told myself no more heroes.”

“You’re a hero, too.”

Nico waves this off impatiently. “I don’t what kind of midlife crisis you’re having, Grace, but I refuse to be the dummy you use to try and sort out your sexuality.”

“You’re not.” Gods, he’s difficult. “Nico, look – Piper left me because she said I didn’t see her when I looked at her. And I know why, now. I’ve been so lost and confused lately, but you – I am happy with you. I look forward to when you come and I hate when you leave. I’m figuring out that I’m not who or what I thought I was but I feel like myself when I’m with you. I don’t even know what that is, yet, but I’m getting there.”

“I’m not your antidepressant.”

Jason wants to snap at him, but he tries to think about what this must be like for him. Nico had spent so long being lost and alone and hating himself, so long spent being in love with Percy, and now the first person other than his deceased sister who had ever known his secret is sitting of front of him telling him that he wants to kiss him. Another straight hero.

“I know you’re not,” he says gently. “I don’t want you to be.”

“Then what do you want?”

“You,” Jason says simply. “Just you.”

Nico eyes him mistrustfully. “How do you know?”

“Kissing you felt right. I don’t know how you felt but to me it felt right.”

Nico chews his lip. Finally he says, “It felt like that to me, too.”

Jason grins and shifts closer. “Can I kiss you again?” He asks. He nods, a smile starting to spread across his face.

It’s different this time. Not quite as hectic. They’re not fueled by anger this time, just a slow building desire. There’s a little stubble on Nico’s cheeks, not from a desire to actually grow a beard but more from a lack of shaving. It tickles Jason’s lips, and he can’t help but laugh.

“What?” Nico seems mildly panicked, and Jason realizes that laughing in the middle of kissing was probably not the best thing to do with Nico.

“Sorry. It’s just…” Jason reaches up and touches Nico’s cheek. He tries not to be upset when Nico flinches. “Your beard. It’s tickling me.”

“Sorry,” Nico blushes. “I still haven’t quite gotten used to the whole shaving thing. Being ten for sixty years can really throw you off.”

“I like it,” he says quietly. Nico stares at him.

“I don’t really know what’s happening.”

Jason doesn’t, either. This is all completely new to him, but things are starting to make sense. He had felt like a failure when Piper had left him, like he was letting people down. But this feels right. Like the first thing he’s done entirely for himself.

“Me neither.”

Nico smiles, a real, genuine Nico di Angelo smile, and Jason thinks that’s the only thing that matters.

* * *

He stops keeping count after that. The next time Nico shows up Jason wakes up to find him sleeping on the couch and he wakes him up, kissing him angrily; he tells him if he ever finds him sleeping on the couch again he’ll kill him. Nico kisses him and they end up in the bed anyway.

Nico is very good with him, actually. Jason is a fumbling mess around him and he has no idea what he’s doing and this is all new, unexplored territory for him but Nico is patient and Nico is gentle and Nico doesn’t rush him. Well, Nico rushes him once, when Jason is running his hands all over him, slowly, until eventually Nico gasps out though gritted teeth, “For fuck’s sake, Jason, _touch me.”_ He seems to be doing fine, though, judging from the noises he is able to pull from Nico. The first time he ever gives Nico a blow job he asks if he had been good, and Nico laughs at him until he can’t breathe. “Yes, Jason,” he says eventually. “You definitely, 100% were.”

And Nico… well. Jason doesn’t know why everything Nico does feels about a hundred times better than it had with Piper. Not that that was her fault. They were both learning, learning how to navigate another person’s body, learning what felt good and what didn’t, what worked and what didn’t. Nico is much more experienced than Piper had been, and Jason learns things from him that almost makes him want to call Piper and apologize. He must have been shit, he thinks. He knows the anatomies are different but he still can’t help but feel bad. He hopes that whoever Piper ends up with is able to do what he never could.

After he yells Nico stops taking the couch. On the nights he arrives late he will just climb into bed, usually so quietly that he doesn’t even wake Jason up, and he will wake up with Nico curled into his back.

Nico, he discovers, is not exactly a cuddler, but he is fine with being cuddled. Other than those moments when his sleeping body will betray him and he will wake up half on top of Jason, Nico is not one to cuddle. But he is fine when Jason curls into him; he is fine when Jason tucks himself into Nico’s collarbone or when he falls asleep with an arm slumped over the other boy’s stomach. The only complaint Nico ever has is that he can’t move at all when Jason sleeps like this. “One time I had to shadow travel to the bathroom.” Jason apologizes, but Nico just smiles. “I never said you had to stop.”

All in all, everything is amazing. Nico still has to leave, and Jason still hates when he does, but there’s nothing quite like waking up only to discover Nico di Angelo is in your bed.

Jason starts opening up, more, too. He calls Leo and the hang out. He even sends a message to Percy and Annabeth, promising to come visit when exams are over. Percy comments that he looks happier than the last few times they’ve talked, but Jason just shrugs, grinning coyly. Percy doesn’t quite believe his assurances that nothing in particular has happened, but he doesn’t push it. “You’re starting to look like yourself again, man,” he says, and Jason is finally learning who that is.

* * *

One time Jason opens the door expecting to see the pizza guy, only to find Piper instead.

“Oh,” he says.

“Hi,” she says.

“Is that the pizza?” Nico says, poking his head out of Jason’s bedroom. When he sees who it is, he turns pale. “Oh. Um. Hi, Piper.”

Piper is staring at him curiously, her head cocked to the side. “Hi, Nico. Didn’t expect to see you here. How are you?”

“Fine,” he says. “I will, um. Let you two talk.” He disappears back into the bedroom. Piper is giving him the same look she had just given Nico.

“So, uh. What’s up?”

“You’re sleeping with him,” she says, quick and to the point. Jason blushes.

“Well –”

“It’s no use denying it, Jason. I can sense it.”

“You can sense that we’re sleeping together?”

“No. I can sense that you’re in love with him. The sex I extrapolated.”

Jason is looking anywhere but her.

“Jason. It’s okay. I’m not mad. Calm down.” She’s using charmspeak against him, but he doesn’t mind, because it’s calming him down. He takes a breath. When he looks up she’s smiling.

“You’re happy,” she says. It is not a question. She can tell. Jason nods. “Why haven’t you told anyone?”

“He doesn’t really want to, yet.”

“He’s waiting for you to leave.”

He looks at her. “What?”

“I can… feel it. He’s in love with you, but he’s trying not to be.”

Jason looks in the direction of his bedroom. He wonders if Nico is listening.

“Why did you come, Pipes?” He asks, not rudely or anything. He just wants to know. He's happy to see her.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay. I see that you are.” Piper's smile is soft. Her eyes are filled with fondness, and he knows that they'll be okay.

“I think… I think this is why I became so distant.”

Piper nods.

“I’m sorry, Piper. You deserved much better than me.”

She touches his arm. “I don’t think I could have picked a better first boyfriend.”

Jason smiles.

“Hey Nico?” Piper calls. Nico pops his head out again. “It was good to see you. You look good.”

Nico blushes. Piper kisses Jason on the cheek. “Call me, okay? I want us to be friends. I miss you.”

Jason nods. “I will. I miss you too. But, hey –”

“I won’t tell anyone,” she says. She smiles at him again before leaving. Jason watches her go, before going into the bedroom and collapsing onto bed beside Nico.

“What’s wrong?”

Jason sighs. “I almost wish she had been mad.”

“Why?”

“I feel awful. Piper’s never been anything but good and supportive and I couldn’t even love her the way she deserved.”

Nico is quiet for a minute. Then he surprises Jason by pulling the blanket over their heads.

“What are you doing?”

“When I was younger I used to get pretty bad nightmares. I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming. Whenever that happened my sister… Bianca would come in and she would crawl into bed with me and she would pull the covers over our heads and she said that nothing could get us when we were under the blankets. It was safe. Safe from monsters and nightmares and every bad thing there was.”

Nico’s voice is quiet. They are close, and Jason can feel Nico’s breath on his face.

“You don’t have to always have it together, Grace.”

“One to talk.”

Nico smiles. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Jason leans into him and kisses him. “Thank you.”

“Eh.”

“I will assume that means you’re welcome.”

Nico makes another noncommittal noise and tries not to smile as Jason kisses him.

* * *

One time Jason asks Nico why he still keeps disappearing so often – his father must be working him ridiculously hard, couldn’t he tell him to chill out again? Nico blushes.

“He doesn’t call me that often, really. I just didn’t want to just… always be here. I figured I should still leave sometimes.”

Jason laughs. Nico doesn’t leave often, after that.

* * *

“I guess I have a type,” Nico says once, lying next to him on the bed.

“So much for no more heroes, huh?”

Nico smiles. “It was a stupid rule, anyway,” he says. Jason rolls over. The emptiness he had felt is ebbing away. He felt like he had to always be sure of himself, always confident and in control, and that had seemed impossible after Piper left.

Who would have thought Nico di Angelo could help him cure his loneliness.

“How about no more heroes after me?”

Nico sighs, as if this is a great trouble. “I can probably do that.” And then he kisses him, and Jason kisses him back, and Jason thinks that Nico’s the real hero, anyway.


End file.
